Clifton's Stephen Hooper drives in 'art car' film

CLIFTON -- Stephen Hooper, who goes by the name “Hoop,” made his first “art car” in the early 1980s.

The artist covered his tiny BMW Isetta with purple fur -- just for the fun of it. When he was invited to a “cars as art” party at an East Village art gallery, he added white fur and spray-painted the car in fluorescent psychedelic colors.

His private induction into the nascent art car movement was complete.

Saed Hindash/The Star-LedgerCar artist Hoop, of Clifton, hangs out the driver side window of his "Hoopmobile," a 1979 Datsun he has loaded up with faux fur, toy instruments, records, tapes and other music-themed items. The car is one of some 40 "art cars" Hoop has built in the last 25 years. His work is featured in the new documentary "Automorphosis," by fellow car artist Harrod Blank, of Douglas, Ariz.“I didn’t really know about art cars,” Hoop recalls, leaning against one of his latest creations -- the Liberace car, so named for its ostentatious coat of faux fur and sequins. “Art cars weren’t a big thing around the country at that time. ... I just thought it would be fun to paint my car.”

Some 40 art cars later, Hoop is a local fixture of an niche art subculture that stretches nationwide. But car artist Harrod Blank, of Douglas, Ariz., has made it his mission to bring art cars into the mainstream. He has taken a handful of famous art cars, including his own Camera Van, which is covered with 2,700 cameras, on a national tour to promote his documentary “Automorphosis.”

The film will be screened as part of the Royal Flush Festival Oct. 18 at 3:30 p.m. at the Anthology Film Archives in New York City.

“It’s pretty much what I’m doing with my life -- uniting these people,” Blank said. “They’re spread out across the country in these little pockets and they don’t know about anybody else that does this. They’re kind of in a vacuum. You can almost say they’re in their own world.”

“Most of them didn’t even know there were other art cars,” said Hoop, who is featured in the film, along with fellow New Jersey car artist and photographer Tim McNally, of Upper Montclair.

"To me it's a way of putting my art on the car and bringing my art out onto the street," said McNally, who is famous among art car aficionados for his "Plaid Car." It took several years, but he successfully changed the car color on his New Jersey vehicle registration to "plaid."

Saed Hindash/The Star-LedgerCar artist and filmmaker Harrod Blank, of Douglas, Ariz., with his, "Camera Van." The van is an old 1972 Dodge van covered with 2,700 cameras. The van and other art cars are on tour to promote Blank's documentary "Automorphosis."

Hoop's art cars will also be included in an exhibition titled "Art of the Crash," opening Oct. 18 at Fusion Arts, in New York City. The show will feature art works that use car parts.

“There’s no club, there’s no membership, there’s no group other than a parade here and there,” Blank said. San Francisco, Calif., has a famous art car festival and Houston, Texas, has a well-known parade.

Based on Blank's efforts to contact car artists, it's estimated there are about 900 art cars in the country. Hunter Mann, of the Art Car World museum in Douglas, Ariz., says art cars are "a moving growing entity in the United States."

Mann is famous for inheriting one of the most famous art cars, the so-called California Fantasy Van. Mann’s godfather, Ernie Steingold, a former stunt man and strong man, spent 22 years decorating the van, which is covered with $15,000 worth of actual dollar coins and some 5,000 brass objects. It weighs 10,000 pounds -- more than double it’s original weight.

“It was truly a labor of love and it’s a wonderful example of visionary folk art,” said Mann, who restores art cars. “I get 12 miles to the gallon but many smiles per mile.”